There are a few things I intend to do differently next holiday season. The thing is, I'll have to add them on top of all the other things I did this year. It's something to think about.
One of the things I missed this year was my mother. She spent Christmas 2006 with us and visited this past summer from Portugal but it would have been great to have her around. Still, I know she was in many ways happy to relax and not go on any long trips.
Another thing I intend to try to add; notice the emphasis on try. When TCR and I were married, whether my parents were visiting or not, I prepared a Christmas Eve Portuguese meal of cooked salt cod, potatoes and greens, dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar and a lot freshly ground black pepper. Crusty bread and white wine are essential with this meal. But in my new blended family, no one likes salt cod and we had extra company this year on Christmas Eve. It was quite busy. I enjoyed it but I'm still having a hankering for that salt cod! I'm hoping to pick some up tomorrow so it will be ready to cook on Wednesday. Sherry really got me going with her Italian family's version of bacalla (salt cod). The squid just about put me over the top with longing for Atlantic seafood. Sherry, won't your relatives agree that the little tentacles are the best part? :-)
Hopefully SG2, who is having four impacted wisdom teeth removed, is well enough to enjoy it. On second thought, I think I'd better wait and see how quickly she comes 'round from the surgery. She's not very keen on the idea and is experiencing a bit of anxiety. It's going to be a tough case for the Nurse Mother. Wish us luck. When all is said and done, if we're still speaking, it'll be a miracle. ;-) She knows I jest.
Another thing to try to adopt next holiday is no presents. None at all. Not even small ones that we agreed upon and some people (you know who you are! ;-) go ahead an buy more elaborate gifts anyway. But I must admit I'm not complaining about the new cordless headphones WP surprised me with. Hooked up to my computer, I can so far walk from the bedroom where the laptop is and into the kitchen to pour more champagne. I don't like it when I start to want too many things. And yes, I've been a bit of a lush for two delicious, decadent days. Hehehe. The fun stops tomorrow. Yup. An aching mouth and minus four teeth later, I will be called upon to nurse duty for sure. I suppose I have to put a twenty under her pillow, too. ;-)
WP, his daughter M visiting from San Francisco and I took a drive over the mountain into North Adams to visit Mass MoCA. It was great entertainment. The company was good. It'so nice to see how happy WP is to have his daughter home for the holidays.
There is a Sol LeWitt exhibit at MoCA that knocked my socks off. There are lots of pictures posted to a Picassa online album.
Terrarium Heads:Wayne (WP), Gina (PS) & Mari (M)
(you can barely see me in the middle; my hand i around Mari)
And stay tuned for a Artist of the Week post on Sol LeWitt.
What did you do today? And how was it?
Grappling w/ the REALITY that my father (88) is slipping, mentally. Not badly, but it's there (had a momentary PANIC! when I lost him in the supermarket). He really needs to stop driving.
ReplyDeleteI need to move out here, but what's new? I've known that for awhile . . . and I still can't MAKE anyone here hire me.
Sigh.
[On the plus side---and speaking of homecooked meals---I made my patented *g* JCF Spaghetti Sauce for him (which I don't make that often for myself). He's very appreciative, and will freeze and eat it slowly even after I've flown home (?) to Michigan.]
I finished Glee 1 today (I think) and posted it. And I did a lot of driving practice with Daughter. And I went to church (rare for me - it's toxic, still, unfortunately) and sang carols with Dearest and Daughter. It was good to share the nice parts with Dearest. And we watched Ironman this evening. I'd call it a good day - a pretty full day.
ReplyDeleteNow back to work tomorrow...
I'm really looking forward to that Sol LeWitt post... I'm going to resist the temptation to look at the album until AFTER I see your selections. THEN I'll go look and see what you left out.
Salt cod - hmmm. I bet I'd like it.
I hope that SG2's surgery goes well and that you can fill the the nurse/mom role without too much disharmony. (It is not a role that I relish or excel at.)
ReplyDeleteI can understand why you'd want the traditional foods. I find that with each passing year, I miss my grandmother's mincemeat pies and black cherry jello salad more and more.
I hope the surgery goes well. Will be thinking about you both!
ReplyDeleteXO,
Sheila :-)
It looks as though you've had a wonderful Christmas. May the New Year see all your dreams come true.
ReplyDeleteFond regards from a Buddhist Sufi Gnostic Athiest -- okay so I'm a bit confused. What else is new?
I hope the surgery goes well. I had my wisdom teeth cut out at the same time and it liked to have killed me!
ReplyDeletegoing back to basics here too. we didn't do badly with small gifts- and really giving should be done all year round- so we do. :) sorrow here in betmoland as my sister laid to rest her best friend of 20 years 3 days before cmas. her cat. i find that the 'holiday season' isn't what it was when i was younger and i really think that next year- it will be more of a solstice celebration with more emphasis on foods and family-- and less on anything else.
ReplyDeleteHi Pagan Sphinx, haven't done anything today yet - it's early! Looked at the pix of the MoCA - very impressive! Surprised you were able to take pictures... Happy New Year! Thanks for commenting at Ruby Tuesday! :)
ReplyDeleteoh yes, they MUST have the tentacles.
ReplyDeletewhen my late mother-in-law used to make them she never bought the cleaned ones(tho the "cleaned" ones are not always clean!)
i HATED touching them and cleaning them of the paper thinn skin and the clear backbone thingy and the beaks etc.
so gina, blessings on you. enjoy.
my beloved grandfather used to cook eels at xmas eve along with all the rest of the fish but i think a few stubborn little kids like me melted his resolve and we got meat raviolis when i was growing up!
i don't mind soaking the baccala or frying the smelts. heck, i never minded handling raw tripe to prepare with my mom, but calamari, nope. once a year is all i can handle.
i had all 4 impacted wisdom teeth out at the same time. phooey!
ReplyDeletei hope she feels better as fast as can be!
jcf: homemade spaghetti sauce for Dad is very wonderful - good one you! WP made meatloaf yesterday and though I try to avoid red meat, it really was delicious. He brought some hot meatloaf and baby carrots over to him mother Alice, which I'm sure she was thrilled about.
ReplyDeleteSo disappointed for you that you're still job searching. I thought of you this morning and tried to send positive energy your way. {hug}
DCup: I'm not the greatest at nursing either. And SG2 is not the easiest patient to minister to. I can nurture, guide, teach and discipline, but nurse? Not so much.
I think I only had mincemeat pie once and thought it very yummy. If you bake one, be sure to take a picture. :-) P.S. You must have so many blogs to catch up on and yet you always manage to come by here - means a lot to me.
Kenju: thanks, luv. SG2 is now tucked into bed, minus four teeth. WP went to pick her presciptions.
Thanks for Ruby Tuesday, it's a very inspiring photo meme. I love it! But thanks also for coming by here. I enjoy your comments.
Betmo: I try to focus on the Solstice. Everything else is pretty much secular, given that absolutely no one in the family is especially religious. And then there is the menorah lighting, which WP's girls enjoy because their late mother Ayn was of Jewish heritage, though not practicing herself. One of the girls also makes Keugel, the noodle dish, which is very yummy.
ReplyDeleteI guess to me the headphones were a bit more of a splurge than I expectd, though I do like them very much. It's conflicting, though, because I don't want to WANT stuff too much. I'm so glad we met in this blogosphere. {hug}
Have not heard from Mark (PM). I hope he's just busy and that all is well.
I don't mind handling fish or seafood at all! Hell, I relish raw oysters! One of my all-time favorite extravagances. :-) Sounds like you are surrounded by wonderful family - if they eat squid, I could definately feel at home at your house!
Steve: aah. Driver's Ed. Daddy style. :-) I was the driving teach (mostly) for both girls cuz CR always drives a standard shift. I don't know that I did so well: SG1 has declared she'll never drive again! T (there is truth to that but it's mostly based on anxiety and wanting to live out her professional life as a urbanite. :-)
I can't wait to have the painings matted and framed and hung so that I can photograph them and post to TPS. I've got a tip on a good framer in the area. I'm so happy with them, Steve. Truly. And our connection makes the paintings all that much more special. {hug}
No tentacles, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love the terrarium heads!
My best to SG2. Hope all goes easily for her.
Susan: I want to apologize (if you noticed) that I neglected your comment. I'm having computer trouble where the system slows down to a crawl and if affects the scrolling.
ReplyDeleteI've actually thought about what you said a few times today: in the spirituality dept. I too am a "odd duck", so I can relate. :-)
Bobbie: just saw your comment. The terrariums were very cool. There is a good photo of them on the slideshow, if you're interested.
Note: I've taken down the holiday slideshow to see if that is the cause of the slowdown of my computer. I don't think it is and WP does. We almost always disagree on what the source of the trouble is. He blames it on my photo and music files and all the stuff I run on the blog. But I'm reluctant to admit it because I love those things and I want them to work properly! What I need is a new computer but so does SG1. :-/
Right now I'm WP's monster computer which is fast and runs well.
WP needs his puter now. Gotta go!
as soon as I read try to have no presents next year the John Lennon song "Imagine" began playing in my head: Imagine no Christmas presents, it's easy if you try...
ReplyDelete:)
So many parts of this deserve a comment/reply, I'm sure I'm gonna miss some biggies...
ReplyDeleteMiss your Mom, yes on tentacles, and if you stop making your salt cod Christmas Eve dinner, I'm gonna cry, even if I'm not there!
We mostly managed the No-Presents-Thing this year, except for some nice food items from Frau B and Miz Lu, and your surprise in the Christmas card, which Gary chuckled most graciously about (I choked a bit there!)
And tell SG2 I'll call tomorrow when I get service; I didn't know what time she would be home today, but expected she'd want to sleep it off and didn't want to wake her.
What else... Oh! your NA trip looked like such fun, You Aquarium Head, You! :)
Now, off to check out your photo blog!
It was great fun. But I know what you mean about wanting to go home after work; especially in the winter. I do a minimum of errands and head straight for the nest, myself.
ReplyDelete:-)
I did notice it took a long time to load your page when the slide show was running so you may be right. It was normal this time.
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know. The problem ended up being lack of memory but I have acquired extra, so things are now working fine. Still, I'll bet the slide show did make it hard to load the page. I notice it on other blogs, too.
Peace to you, dear Susan